speaking of downsized...

Mishra

have any of you taken a recent trip to a videogame store? my god, the pc section keeps getting smaller and smaller. at my local eb they have two shelfs on some cabinet with the entire thing consisting of everquest 2 practically. i remember when half the store was pc games and they came in jewel cases and it was a nickel for a steak dinner

what happened?

Neo_God

There are more handhelds and consoles out then there has been in the past.

A couple years ago it was:
Playstation 2
Xbox
Gamecube
Gamboy Advance.
(and a slurry of consoles and handhelds from years before)

Now it's
Playstation 2
Xbox
Xbox 360
Gamecube
Gameboy Advance
Gameboy DS
PSP
(and again past console junk)

And the stores arn't getting any bigger, and there are more consols gamers out there. So it's all about supply and demand.

rooster

I have noticed over here pc titles getting shunted to the back of the store, except *very new releases. The variety has always sucked though, if you want anything older than a few months the best bet is usually online.

MoP

Yeah, in most of the games shops i've been in recently, PC titles have been on just one shelf halfway down a wall, and are mainly limited to uber-budget titles and the top 10/20/whatever chart.
PS2, Xbox360, and all the new handheld stuff is encroaching on the PC games market on the high street... maybe this will force more of a move to online distribution?

snemmy

yeah the Babbages i go to have renovated their store(which now has more foot space but less stock space) and now 75% of the wall space is pre-owned console games and the rest are the new titles. PC titles have been regulated to a small 4ft high 5ft long double sided shelf at the very back of the store, when they used to take a good 30% of the old wall space.

(btw.. i HATE store renovations that cut stock by half or more. Toys R Us did this back around 2000 and man has the place sucked ass ever since)

ScoobyDoofus

I think that used DVD sales are to blame for part of this as well. You have more consoles fighting for shelf space along with the very popular cheapo used DVD's. Whereas at my GameStop's there used to be 2-3 racks full of PC games, now its 1 side of 1 rack and the other 5 racks are all Used DVD's + accessories. They are buying up the unpurchased rental stock from Blockbuster, etc.

doc rob

You only need one shelf, that's enough space for WoW and The Sims to fit.

Lee3dee

the EB and gamestop by me have maybe 1 shelving section reserved for the PC. The whole store is Used and new console games. Consoles definately have a higher resell value than the PC. Plus PC games are easily duplicated and this could pose a problem for specific titles that use a key. I remeber buying a new game at EB and getting home only to discover that the key was already registered. I think EB and babbages used to shrink wrap their used PC games and sell them as new.

Plus have you noticed that most PC games come on CDs. Its 2006 and they should of made the switch to DVD by now.

hawken

count yourselves lucky

pc games do not exist in where I am

Rick Stirling

The shops sell stock the items that sell. PC sales have been declining steadily, consoles increasing. What do you do? You cut the poor selling stock down to the core items that will sell, and use the space to house the stock that does sell.

I for one would love it if they were as picky with the consoles that are stocked as they are with PC titles - top 30 plus games that are good.

ScoobyDoofus

Lee: Its illegal/against the EULA to resell PC games is it not?

Xenobond

You can just call up the store, or even go in and ask if they can get a particular pc title in stock for you. That'd save you shipping on ordering it yourself online. I'm sure all of the major game stores that have computers and want repeat cusomers will do this for you. Just gotta quit whining and just ask.

Tulkamir

Yea, it blows. Walmart has a better selection than EB. Really quite sad.

ElysiumGX

I'm less inclined to buy PC games these days. They're huge, troublesome, and you can't sell them when they suck. The ones I have bought come with software to create custom content.

I want cheap and fun. AND I WANT IT TO WORK WITHOUT A DOZEN PATCHES!

SuperOstrich

Not to mention the load times are starting to get ridiculous and you need a new computer (or at least a new video card) every time a big game comes out.

Plus there's something more soothing about playing games while sitting on your couch.

ebagg

I dislike this trend too. However I noticed this is only at stores such as EBGames or Gamestop, smaller mall-type game stores, whereas the PC games section at Walmart, Fry's or Fred Meyer's is quite large. Downside is, that leave barely any bargain hunting through the old preowned PC games which I used to love to do.

SHEPEIRO

well aprt from pc games, my local gamestation has stopped supplying new Xbox titles :P i dont want to buy a stinking 360 :P i want new games for my XBOX :P

Toomas

Lee, most new pc games come on DVD's in Europe.

Cthogua

[ QUOTE ]
They are buying up the unpurchased rental stock from Blockbuster, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this true with console games as well? One of my co-workers and I got in an arguement about used games at places like EB. He claimed that nearly all of them were fenced, stolen games...I said that If that were the case it seems like you would have atleast heard about the totally outrageous wave of videogame theft going on. There's ALOT of used games at EBs nowadays. He wasn't trying to hear it though, saying he just didn't believe that people were selling back that many games for 3 bucks a game, or whatever.

ScoobyDoofus

Every time I've been in a video game store in the last 6-8 months, EVERY SINGLE TIME mind you, there has been some kid and his Mom trading in old systems and games for store credit. Without exception. So, yes there are hordes of people ridding themselves of older titles, and video stores are selling off excess DVD stock to EB's and the like. I dont know about rental games though I imagine its a similar practice.

Mark Dygert

I don't mean to poop on the alarmist parade we have going on here, but has anyone given a thought about smaller boxes or no boxes at all? With more games hitting store shelves in DVD style cases and not in moving van size packaging you have to think that is going to shrink the real estate it takes store said boxes. There might be the same amount of PC titles being pumped out just taking up less store front?

With that said, I'm sure the PC market is shrinking. I would blame Intel and their CRAPPY intergraded video chips they pushed on MILLIONS of would-be computer gamers turning them off to the idea of games on the PC and sending them right into the arms of Sony and MS.

From a developer stand point I honestly don't care where the game goes as long as it plays well and sells. I personally HATE controllers for certain types of games and LOVE em for others but really when it comes down to it the only thing keeping me from shelving my PC as a gaming rig is the keyboard/mouse.

ebagg

Good points Vig, personally if they pull off the Wii controller well, or something similar comes out that functions great enough to play a FPS as accurately as a keyboard and mouse, and for online games you can speak into a headset rather than type out messages, great. That way a lot less time is spent on both ends with bug fixes for varying PC rigs and more time sending out new game content.

But also maybe more and more developers are holding their breath for Windows Vista? Crysis is requiring it, maybe it'll bring a new level of game accessibilities and features that'll shift things a bit.

KDR_11k

I don't see any shrinking here. The PC sections are still as large as all the console sections combined. Also you can trade PC games in here, except there are very few stores accepting trade ins and you can just use ebay.

I know EB Games tends to deal almost exclusively with used games, the margins on new games are just too small to sustain any business so they're practically forced to only sell used games with the occassional sprinkle of new games that keep attracting people to the store. That's also the reason for all the cheap accessory crap they're pushing onto people, the margins on the official accessories are too small. There's a local store that's only dealing in used games now, probably because they didn't make enough money from new games especially since we've got the Media Markt that sells games for 5€ cheaper on average.